Skip to main content

Project - Data science

Scale-up separation process

The challenge

A reagent used in the formulation of a medicinal product should contain as little water as possible because water will interfere with the chemical reaction. The component is currently purchased by the company, but the production volume is set to increase and it is becoming more attractive to dehydrate the hydrated reagent internally (the more hydrated it is, the cheaper it is).

A pilot procedure was used to assess the feasibility of the process, and the data produced form the basis for a scale-up to achieve the desired production volume within the desired time frame.

The solution

Available data and thermodynamic laws are used to develop a model, but some CAPEX and OPEX constraints have to be taken into account:

  • The minimum volume to be produced within a certain amount of time ;
  • The minimum number of filters ;
  • The minimum mass of a molecular sieve to be used per filter ;
  • The minimum number of operators ;
  • Pragmatic programming for the operators (purge to be done every 24 hours or in multiples).

Simulation-based design has made it possible to find an optimum that meets the objectives and respects the constraints. The associated costs provided by the client were used to establish the overall cost of the process over several years.

The potential gain

The design provides a description of the process to achieve the desired production, and furthermore, the calculated costs have been analysed to assess the investment, define the budgets and calculate the depreciation.

Project Details

Client Activity

  • Pharmaceutical industry

Solution Brand

  • Microsoft
  • Excel
  • Matlab

Nature of the work carried out

  • Separation Method

Services

  • Offline Data Science and Optimisation
  • Simulation-based design

Notre ThinManager-Integrator Certified

1.22 Mb – file pdf
Download this file

Other references More to be discovered

Let's stay in touch

Subscribe to our newsletter